Episode 6

Samantha lunges right up into the face of the large, armored mercenary captain, scowling. "What do you mean, you DON'T do rescue missions?!"

Weathering the verbal assault, the leader remains stoic and collected with a strictly business exterior. "We were hired to guard key targets. We have guarded them to extraction, and we will remain with them until they are away from this site. This is as per the exact specifications of our contract."

Stepping back in huff, Samantha's face reddens with bubbling anger, and she growls loudly. "YOU. CAN'T. BE. SERIOUS! I've got a whole camera crew unit trapped down there, and you bunch of fucking tools won't move a gods damned finger to rescue them!"

Straightening his tall, armored form, the leader glowers over Samantha, summons up his resolve, and points over to Flames of the Phoenix group. "Ma'am. We guard the specified assets until they leave the site. Again. That's our contract. PERIOD."

Boiling rage swells up into Samantha's twitching face, and she grits her teeth with a hiss. "THEN... What do YOU propose I do with my trapped camera crew?!"

The mercenary leader quirks his brow, glances behind Samantha, and coolly directs her with a point. "I don't know. Maybe you should try hiring them."

Aristespha leads Dretphi, Cideeda, Sotalia, and Bach around the chaotic gatherings of recording teams in the clearing surrounding the concrete bunker entrance and scans the different people rushing about. Settling her stare upon Samantha, she stops right behind her and hems. "Excuse me. I am sorry to intrude, but are you in charge here?"

Spinning around quickly, Samantha greets Aristespha with brief shock. "Hello- I- Oh. Hello! YES, I'm in charge, for all practical purposes. And, I'm SO glad you are here!"

Aristespha nods with a slight bow, draws in a long breath, and maintains a calm exterior against her unamused tone. "Excellent. We picked up an emergency broadcast at another site. Contacting the guild under the emergency action protocol, we were able to ascertain that it was coming from here."

She pauses a moment, glances around at the surrounding tension and fervor. "What is the exact situation?"

Samantha blinks her hazel eyes blankly a moment and swiftly gathers her thoughts. "Oh... Yes! It seems that some of the outpost's defenses have been reactivated. We got everyone out except a camera crew unit of six people that got separated in the all the chaos. They are currently held up and trapped down in some control center of the base."

Nodding her understanding, Aristespha holds her hand out and levels a commanding gaze right at Samantha. "Give us a copy of any maps you have. Mark their known location, along with any information about where you encountered the defenses."

She narrows her stare, scrutinizing. "Also, have there been any recent communications from the trapped crew?"

Nearby, Gerald overhears the conversation, scrambles over searching his pockets, and presents his materials with a pencil at the ready. "Here! We were last together in this hallway running from the things. They've radioed that they've barricaded themselves here and managed to lock the security door."

He draws in an uneasy breath and sighs. "At least, that's what we've been able to make out. Getting a signal has been really difficult from up here."

Aristespha passes the marked map to Cideeda. "Thank you. What defenses did you encounter?"

Bach, Dretphi, and Sotalia peek over Cideeda, and the group studies the layout. Samantha wags her finger to a few bodies near the archway entrance of the outpost. "Over there! They look like cyber-zombies or something like that. Like rotting bodies with machine parts."

With a curt nod to Samantha, Aristespha signals the rest of the group. They walk over towards the entrance and gather around the unmoving humanoid figures on the ground. Samantha follows for a distance and breaks off to the side with Gerald in tow. Well behind impromptu barricades and equipment containers, Chad Bosch narrows his brown eyes at the other team. He storms defiantly around a mercenary guard, ignoring his requests to remain. Chad lines up an intercept course right to Samantha and stops in front of her. "What the hell is going on here?! I thought WE were going to get a chance to go back down! We're supposed to be the heroic adventurers here! So, why aren't we being the heroes?!"

Samantha's voice rises louder than Chad in sheer indignation, and she glares through his being. "OH! You want to be heroes now?!"

Chad crosses his arms, puffs up his chest under his breast plate, and stares down at Samantha. He snaps a snide retort just under his breath, and Samantha cocks her head slightly. An argument between the two ignites fully, and the bickering floods the airspace. Aristespha, Bach, Cideeda, Dretphi and Sotalia glance between each other and containing their commentary, moving out of earshot. Cideeda flicks her furry ear back towards the din of derisive debate and shakes her head. "Wow..."

Sotalia rolls her eyes and dismissively waves her hand off to the side. "What do you expect? Fuckin' amateurs."

The group splits around the area and inspects the strange bodies near the entrance to the ruins. Twisting her mouth in thought, Aristespha sneers her upper lip and kneels down for a closer examination. "Oh my. I have not seen beings like this in quite some time."

Sotalia stands next to Aristespha and uncomfortably wanders her golden gaze over the humanoid creatures. "They, uh, look like vat grown cybernetic soldiers... Oh, gods... Ew."

She contorts her face around the nose and tilts her head away. "They look like they've been out of the stasis pods for too long."

Aristespha gestures, a violet glow lighting up her eyes. Moving her hand over the body, parts of the body move with Aristespha's hand motions. She scrunches up her nose, investigating further. "Yes. They certainly have. The preservative bio-gel spoiled quite some time ago, judging from the decay. There is only the barest amount left to maintain the most basic functions."

From the sword at Aristespha's side, Sebastian's voice sounds out. "Yeah... These guys look BAD. The ones I saw at the other base in the tubes were in far better shape."

Sotalia fans her free hand against the stench and covers her nose. "GODS. That's A LOT of decay. Is there any natural tissue left?"

Pondering a moment, Aristespha furrows a curious brow at the body. "THAT is a good question."

She gestures deftly within a faint haze of magical energies branching onto the corpse, and a slice of rotting flesh peels off the body's leg. Snapping her head the other way, Sotalia winces her eyes shut and gags loudly. "Dammit, girl! Warn me before you do that!"

The rest of the team huddles around another, similar corpse. Cideeda hovers a claw tip above the many exposed implant lines in the body and traces out the routes within the flesh. "These are some serious cybernetics inside here. They've got some real power throughput with implanted conduits that big."

Dretphi searches the area, finds a stick nearby, and taps spots on the body. "Armor reinforcements in key areas. Small arms did not affect them significantly. Concentrated vital hits were ineffective."

Cideeda's investigative stare stops around the neck, and she holds her hand out for Dretphi's stick. Passing the stick over, Dretphi follows Cideeda's gaze and squints her steely gray eyes through her full face visor. Bach scoots over, getting a better view. Cideeda pries a severed cable from the neck and perks an intrigued eyebrow. "Oh. I bet that's what stopped this thing."

Hovering a hand over the cable, Bach's eyes glow faintly. "I guess that's some kind of power cable, because I'm feeling some power in it."

Bach slides his gaze over to a round metal cover on the chest of the body. "And THIS has to be a power source. I feel it. There's some serious energy running through it."

Cideeda taps the metal cover with the stick and grimaces with a light bite of her lower lip. "I think these use removable power cores. From the construction, it looks like you should be able to change them out."

Glancing over to Bach, she smirks with a hint of a canine. "You want to try to open it?"

Tilting his head, Bach groans with an uncertain twist of his face. "Ah... Uh... I don't know. But..."

He slightly shrugs his shoulders and sighs. "It'd probably be best if we could make sure they had no more power. I'll give it a shot."

Bach readies his hand right above the metal cover and concentrates, his eyes illuminating with a blue glow. Faint wisps of prismatic flow slip into the implanted device over the minute. The power core cover turns sharply, slowly unscrewing itself, and Bach smirks with flits of confidence. The small plate floats off to the side, locking mechanisms within the chamber disengage, and a metallic tube with a row of lights along the side rises out. Both Cideeda and Dretphi focus on the extracted device. Dretphi reads the characters etched on the side, furrowing her brow. "Military issue. High capacity power core. What I can determine."

Cideeda widens her emerald green gaze at the power core. "Holy shit.... That thing is almost fully charged. After all these years... It's still got THAT much in it."

Aristespha and Sotalia peer above the gathering. Shaking her head, Aristespha sighs and pinches the bridge of her nose. "That means they have plenty of power to make up for the lack of functional biological tissue. That, unfortunately, explains a lot."

Bach grabs the power core and stands up along with Cideeda and Dretphi. Holding her chin, Aristespha thinks, twitches her very long pointed ear, and briefly pivots her head toward Samantha, now arguing with Chad, Tassilda, Trakenthin, Deedri, and Modoran. Sebastian's voice ethereally sounds out from the sword at Aristespha's side. "Hey, Bach, Cideeda? Could you make sure the rest of these cyborgs are disabled. We definitely don't need any more trouble out here."

A loud and feverish argument between Samantha and the Flames of Phoenix rises up from the background noises. Sebastian sighs with faint reverberation from within the sword. "Sotalia and Dretphi. Get what equipment we need ready. Dear?"

Aristespha hardens her composure, neatens up her attire, and groans, watching Samantha berate the other group. "I know. I will inform... Them... That we are going in. And, meet everyone back here."

A flurry of voices clash in the air and flood clearing around the facility with the back and forth of heating confrontation. Within a section of crumbling pavement encircled by mercenary guards, the Next Adventurers of Nexus stand around either arguing or idling. Recording crews slink around the edges of the space between capturing a few shots of the action and avoiding the attention from those in the conflict. With Tassilda and Trakenthin at his sides, Chad stands defiantly up and glares unamused at Samantha. "LISTEN. WE are supposed to be the Next Adventurers of Nexus, The Flames of the Phoenix! So, why are we not adventuring back down there?! This whole show is about people doing adventures."

He jabs a point towards the entrance of the ancient facility and narrows his glower at Samantha. "There's literally an adventure right THERE! Yet, you say we can't do it!"

Samantha twitches her cheek under her eye and focuses her ire at Chad. "LISTEN! THIS was supposed to be a simple mission to get all of you familiar with each other and establish a group dynamic. Cybernetic zombies were NOT in the plan!"

Tassilda pouts, tosses back her raven black hair, and puts her hands on her hips. "This is a perfect opportunity, and you are WASTING it on another group! And of all things, a group with, at most, a questionable mage!"

Pausing a moment in the distance, Sotalia slowly turns her head and squints at Tassilda's glare with a frown. Samantha curls her lip and bares her teeth in reddened face rage. "Opportunity?! You HAD an opportunity and you all RAN!"

Chad snarls his upper lip and yells at Samantha. "OH! And your best solution is to send in a team with AN INTERN?!"

Finishing up extracting another power cell from an inert cyber-zombie, Bach stiffens his posture and glances over, mouthing out. "The fuck, man..."

Cideeda's furry ears lower towards her shoulders, and she shakes her head of multi-colored hair, orange highlights shining in the sunlight. "Real funny coming from them with who they got on the team."

Dretphi drops a small pack next to Cideeda, straightens her stance, and coldly meets Trakenthin's stare. A surge arguing rises out of Chad towards Samantha, Tassilda and Trakenthin pitching in and verbally jabbing back. With a long sigh, Modoran leans against an old fence post near Deedri, perks an amused brow, and crosses his arms. "Well... This is turning out to be quite the day of... Entertainment."

Watching the clash of personalities, Deedri nervously rubs her clawed hands together and rolls her shoulders through the tension. "Why are they fighting so much? Aren't we on the same team here? I don't know what they're trying to accomplish here."

Twisting an ambivalent smirk on his dusky bluish gray face, Modoran holds his hands up and shrugs nonplussed. "I really do not know. The only thing I can figure is that we have got three A-type personalities all wanting a chance to impress on the screen."

Deedri turns her head slightly towards Modoran and perks her furry, tufted ears. "A-type personalities?"

Modoran grins smugly and snorts with an ill-humored tone. "Assholes."

Returning her attention towards the argumentative scene, Deedri takes a deep breath in and groans with a trailing sigh, rolling her auburn eyes. "Yes. That... That, unfortunately, explains a lot."

Carefully approaching Samantha from behind, Aristespha lightly taps her on the shoulder and presents a calm, professional exterior. Samantha spins out mid sentence, halts her retort to Chad, and presents a welcoming smile. "Oh. Yes? How can I help you further?"

Aristespha stoically meets the glares from Chad, Tassilda, and Trakenthin and focuses upon Samantha with a calm tone. "We are going in now. We will need to have a discussion AFTER we rescue your people. As a precaution, please have your guards mind the entrance in case anything else tries to come out."

Samantha genuinely smiles and exhales in relief. "Thank you so much! We'll do what we can up here. Please, get the crew back to safety."

Chad summons up his fury and halts, spotting at camera aimed at him. Wrestling the anger back down off his face, he presents a bright white grin and grants a slight nod towards Aristespha. "We do appreciate your assistance with this. We shall mind the entrance to prevent anything else from exiting the facility. If you need assistance within..."

His brown eyes snap over to Samantha, squinting briefly at her, and he returns his attention to Aristespha. "We will be happy to provide it. Just call us on the radio."

Aristespha grants a quick bow, pivots away, and walks calmly to Bach, Sotalia, Dretphi, and Cideeda near the entrance way into the ruined facility. Checking the lack of camera coverage, Chad squints his ire and frowns at Aristespha. Continuing towards the entrance, Aristespha signals the rest of the team to join her. She passes through the entrance to the ancient structure, strolls down the entry hallway, and grumbles loudly, wrestling her irritation. "That was... Horrifically AWKWARD. Last thing I need is a bunch of self-important shits trying to play hero after they have run off with their security detail."

She stretches her neck to the extremes towards both her shoulders and growls. "Offering assistance with a smile one moment and then having the gods damned nerve to glare at me when we go do the job they should have done..."

Sebastian's ethereal form materializes next to Aristespha and shares a disapproving frown on his face. "Okay. I do NOT like that Chad guy. Something about him doesn't feel quite right. I picked up that much from within the sword even."

Glancing around the smooth concrete floor and reinforced walls, Sebastian narrows a studious gaze around the vicinity. "But... Enough about those guys. We got people to rescue here."

Visually checking the team, he bounces his gaze between everyone. Dretphi rolls her armor plated shoulders and double-checks the large machete upon a magnetic holster on back and an energy shield generator on the gauntlet. Cideeda inspects the chamber of her shotgun and cycles a round in. Sebastian nods and speaks to the group. "Okay. We'll do it similar to last time. I'll scout ahead. Dretphi and Cideeda, keep the front covered. Sotalia and Aristespha, hit anything at range. I'm guessing electrical attacks and anything that slices and dices will be the right type of attacks?"

Brushing off her bodysuit, Cideeda nods and points around her neck. "It looks like there's a main cable for the cybernetics in the neck. So, I'd aim for there first and see if you can damage it and bring them down quick."

Thinking for a moment, Dretphi sighs with a frown and readies her sub-machine gun. "Attacking vital areas is not effective. Bodies outside showed that. Go for the power cable. Otherwise, attempt to disable limbs."

Sebastian's eyes search his mind, and he glances at Bach. "Bro, watch the rear, provide support, and try to pull the power cores out of these things. It seems like they need them to work. So let's make sure they don't have them."

Bach grants a thumbs up and sorts through his duster's pockets. "Sounds good to me. Less surprises the better."

Sebastian floats over to the first intersection, studies all the directions, and glances back at Aristespha. Flipping through a small packet of maps, Aristespha scrutinizes a page and points towards a direction. The group readies themselves. Sebastian grins proudly. "Okay. Let's do this."

---

Bright light floods the dark corridor, a long arc of electricity flashing into a plodding figure. Shuddering and shaking with the current flowing into it, sparks erupt from the unconcealed cybernetic cabling through decaying, necrotic flesh. Smoke belches out through sizzling flesh of the figure, and it stiffly topples onto the floor. Another nearby cybernetic abomination pauses, listening to the downed cyber-zombie smoldering, and sloppily swings its partially rotted head toward another hallway run. Forceful pops and mechanical clacks bounce down the halls, and fresh perforations rip open through the creature's neck. A few more holes open up in the fetid mass, and a bright flash explodes out from the flesh. The cyber-zombie collapses onto the smooth concrete flood, and plumes of acrid smoke rise up from the slumped mass. Hovering around the fallen beings, the ethereal form of Sebastian zips around the corner of the intersection, points down a corridor, and holds three fingers up to the team behind. Cideeda and Dretphi swiftly check their weapons and position themselves at the sides of the hallway. Aristespha stands slightly back in the middle, starting a spell incantation. Sotalia's golden eyes dart between the shadowy corridors nearby, and she flexes her fingers within the faint prismatic mists enveloping them, tiny arcs snapping sparking off her nails. Gauging the team's readiness, Sebastian nods, turns back down the hallway, and ignites his form brighter. "Hey! Rot boys! Come get some of this, you fuckers!"

Backing away perpendicular from the team down another run of the intersection, and he holds a hand out, signaling the others in waiting. Three cyber-zombies trudge out from the pipe lined corridor in a loose group, their hazy glares locked upon Sebastian. A red laser dot wanders up to the neck of one. The three cyber-zombies near the middle of the intersection, and Sebastian yells out. "NOW!"

With a forceful flick, Aristespha throws out an ivory hand, and a large wave of translucent energy expands to the walls of the corridor. The pulse of flow pushes down the hall, reaches the middle of the intersection, and coats the creatures in a thick, transparent energy. Struggling against the constricting magical gel, they barely manage the tiniest, strained motions. Lining up her sights, Cideeda braces her small, lithe form and squeezes the main trigger on her shotgun. A loud kaboom blasts out, and the middle upper chest region of a cyber-zombie liquefies into a gray green, chunky goop. Light flickers within the rotten soup, and the creature ceases fighting the energy enveloping it. Dretphi burst fires her submachine gun, and rounds puncture a cybernetic horror, suppressed pops reflecting down the hard concrete walls. A sparking corpse freezes inside the energy and hovers within the magical mass. Aristespha raises her free hand, and flows of power condense to an illuminated point. A beam of brilliant light streaks across the distance, and she slices through the neck of the remaining abomination. The initial binding energy dissipates, and the leftovers from the fray flop onto the gunk and chunk coated floor. A decaying head rolls along the ground and rights itself on the laser sliced neck, few final twitches fading.

Sebastian gives the group a double thumbs up and squints down the hallway. "Okay! This way looks clear, and I think there's a big door here. Looks kind of important."

Aristespha swiftly straightens up her attire, retrieves the collection of maps from a small pack, and traces a path on one of the pages. "That should be it."

Nodding, Sebastian double-checks the other corridors and motions down the relevant direction. "Good. So far, me baiting them into ambushes has been working. But, I don't want to keep relying upon that much longer."

The team quickly reassembles and rushes through the intersection down a hall to a large door within the confines of a lighted section. Lagging just behind the group, Bach kneels down to the corpses of the cyber-zombies. He deftly hovers a hand above the metal chest covers and swiftly extracts power cores via wisps of prismatic energy. Extracting the last power core, he stuffs it with the others in his duster pockets. Dretphi takes a watch position towards the unlit, unexplored hallway past the large doorway, training her submachine gun down the dark passage. Typing on an active control panel, Cideeda's furry ears flick back against blaring out error tones. "It's still locked. That might be a good sign."

Standing next to Cideeda, Aristespha swiftly flips through the bundle of documentation, scanning page after page. "Maybe there is a note about an access code in guild brief, since they were able to get in there in the first place."

Sotalia sweeps her head side to side, squinting into the amorphous shadowy corridors in either direction, and flexes her fingers, traces of magical miasma surrounding her hands. She settles her attention down the unexplored passage and stares, hunting through the dark. "I wonder how many more of those damned cyber-zombies there are left."

Bach stands up from the pile of bodies. He lifts his head up and squints at movement in the darkness. Staring down another shadowy, unknown stretch of hallway beyond the intersection and away from everyone else, he observes unusual flits of motion rising out of the blackness. A sleek, dark gray coated humanoid figure moves precisely and purposefully without any waste. Its head tracks Bach perfectly with a slight rock in each step. Bach discerns the faint red glow coming from where eyes should be, and the being precisely snaps up the end of the rifle barrel. Bach's eyes flash bright, brilliant blue with terrified recognition, and he thrusts his hands forward. Both Sotalia and Aristespha reflexively freeze startled and snap their attention towards Bach. A rush of magical flow bursts forth from Bach's body, plumes out in a torrent, and swirls towards a point in front of Bach's hands. The flow condenses, and explodes out into a golden, splintering web of hexagonal fractals. The framework flashes up to the ceiling and sinks into two corners at the intersection, and floods full of golden transparent energy. The sleek figure smoothly engages the trigger of its weapon, and a chain of plasma bolts stream upon the golden barrier. The gaseous orbs bounce off, explode into the plasma splatter, or dissipate into the magic barrier. Bach staggers back, barely remaining on his feet in the panic. "WHAT THE FUCK ARE THESE?!"

The team turn their alarmed faces towards the golden barrier, plasma bolts pounding onto it. Swinging his head away from the assault towards the others, Bach's pupils shrink to shock. He spots another sleek humanoid figure darting out from a shadowy corner down the unexplored section of hallway behind Dretphi and everyone else. With another bright flash of blue in his eyes, Bach lunges his hand forward. "BEHIND YOU!"

A woven centimeter thick cord of stabilized magical energy launches from a glowing mass of flow billowing out from Bach palm. Jetting through the air, the stream arcs over the group and descends directly towards its target. The sleek, near featureless being trains its plasma rifle at Dretphi. The magical cord plants itself onto the weapon. From the contact point, a web of blue energy threads spider out across the rifle and root into the entire weapon. The cyber soldier strains its finger against the unmoving trigger. Bach grasps onto the cord, and a pulse of energy arcs down the path. Swiftly following the fuse, the energy hits the plasma rifle, and a burst of power propels the weapon out of the soldier's grip. The sleek being puzzles a moment with erratically flexing hands and processes the change of situation, an ominous shadow enveloping it. Dretphi raises her massive machete with both hands. Its faintly glowing edge gleams with off-color outpost lighting. The blade slices down into the sleek humanoid and splits the meeting point between shoulder and neck. A stream of transparent red blood waterfalls down smooth contours of the body from the machete and splatters upon the smooth concrete. The figure shudders with fading life and limply drops off the blade into a sloppy heap.

The tension surges and stifles in the minutes of still silence. Everyone watches either end of the hallway for activity with darting, paranoid glances. Dretphi's steely gray eyes behind her full face visor scan her current direction, and she pants tensely with sub-machine in one hand and blood stained machete in the other. "Think we are not under threat... Currently..."

Dragging himself up from the floor in a slight daze, Bach nervously bounces his glowing gaze between the golden barrier sealed intersection and the inky darkness the other way. "Okay... Um... Door? Please?!"

Sebastian rams his intangible upper body through the thick doors. The angry ghostly figure materializes on the other side, and two crew members leap away in fright. Sebastian glares between the pair and grins annoyed. "Will someone... OPEN THIS FUCKING DOOR! PLEASE? We're only trying to RESCUE YOU here."

---

Aged lamps overhead light the large command center. Flickers of text stream out on a few dust caked monitors in a row of old consoles. Blinking indicators pulse on a control panel near a secured area beyond a barricade of upturned old office furniture. Away from the barrier, Sebastian hovers in front of a few recording crew members. "Huh... So... You actually got into the control center, and THEN something brought the system out of standby mode?"

A cameraman nods and shrugs uncertainly. "Yeah. We can't figure out exactly if one of the adventurers hit something. Or, if it was remotely triggered."

He waves his hand around the vicinity, furrowing his brow. "I mean, the place was silent. Like, completely dead. Then, before we knew it, the lights turned on and alarms were going off everywhere. Trying to get out of here, our group ran into those cyber-commandos-"

Shuddering into a wince, he grumbles, tinges of disgust and fear slipping out. "Or... Whatever the fuck they are. Gods..."

He exhales and runs his fingers through his hair. "We were just LUCKY to get everyone back into this old command area, I guess. From the looks of it, that's what we think it is, at least."

A half-emin engineer sighs and shakes her horned head. "UNFORTUNATELY, the only thing we've managed to do is to get the door to lock. Seems like this room is off the main security system now and on its own loop."

She points towards a nearby console streaming lines of text and other messages. "We've tried to access the main security controls, but everything is locked out."

An evuukian engineer frees a handheld radio from an access port to a large bundle of cables and glances at the crew, shaking his head. "I think I transmitted a message. Can't pick up a damned response right now, too much interference."

The half-emin engineer nods and returns her attention to Sebastian. "Anyway, those cyber commandos are nasty. Poor Radnae caught a plasma bolt to the shoulder blade. Harris got a bunch of ribs broken by a few punches from those freaks. And, Urdi got her ankle twisted when one of them swept her legs out from her, slide kicking her out of nowhere."

Sebastian drifts in thought and blinks back into awareness to their expectant gazes. "Okay... Hang tight, I'm going to scout our path back and see what exactly is going on out there. I get the feeling these cyber-commandos are the real defenders to worry about. The cyber-zombies were nowhere near this dangerous."

Turning his head, he scans over the impromptu hideout. "Meanwhile... My team will help the injured, and we'll work on a plan for getting everyone out safely."

He waves to Aristespha and signals towards the door. Aristespha nods back, and Sebastian phases through the heavy security door. Resuming the medical treatment of the large fvalian man, Aristespha inspects a very serious plasma burn on his shoulder. "You are incredibly fortunate. It seems like your camera harness and backpack broke the plasma bolt early. While these are pretty terrible burns, you still have both shoulder and shoulder blade intact."

She narrows her studious stare at the injury. "I will apply some initial healing and preventive magic, and a synth skin cover. Anything further will have to wait until we get to the surface when we are in far better circumstances."

Laying on his belly, the fvalian man winces against the pain and nods. "Yes, ma'am. Um... Is Urdi's ankle serious?"

Gazing upon the fvalian a moment, Aristespha smiles slyly and pats him on his uninjured arm. "Oh. It is only a bad sprain. Thankfully, she saw that sweep kick and dodged most of it. But for you, Radnae, I have a question."

Blinking confused, Radnae twists his head carefully up towards Aristespha curiously. "Uh. What's that, ma'am?"

Aristespha leans close to one of Radnae's big furry ears and whispers softly. "Do you know of any really nice restaurants in Amaranth Valley? Because from the way Urdi has been trying to catch your eye, you might be going to one."

A flush of pink fills Radnae's face, and he lowers his head, hiding a surge of embarrassment. "Y-you really think that- She'd ask me out?"

With a small grin, Aristespha chuckles softly to herself and applies the next stage of Radnae's treatment. "Oh, call me old fashioned, but I think when a brave man shields a lady from a ball of superheated gas, he should at LEAST get a nice dinner out of it. Now..."

She smirks and whispers out of the side of her mouth. "Make eye contact, smile, and wave at her with your good arm."

Sotalia sits nearby lightly applying the last thick cloth strip along a middle-aged man's heavily bruised and sore side. He groans and grumbles with each unintentional, painful move. Reaching into a belt pouch, Sotalia pulls out a small vial of blue liquid and narrows her golden eyes. "Now drink this."

The man eyes the vial with suspicion and furrows his brow. "What's it do?"

Sotalia lifts an eyebrow and holds the glass container closer to the man's face. "Oh, you know... It prevents you from experiencing tremendous amounts of pain when the brace strips I put on you activate and move your broken ribs away from your internal organs."

The man glares at the vial, again, warily. Sotalia rolls her eyes and sighs with a smirk. "It's blue raspberry flavored, if that helps, Mr. Harris."

Harris twists his mouth uncertainly and takes hold of the vial. "Like the slushies at the convenience store?"

With an amused smile, Sotalia nods reassuringly. Harris twists open the top and pours the solution into his mouth, tilting his head back. He swallows and gives a nod of approval. "Okay. Not bad. Not bad at all. So, what's next?"

Grinning, Sotalia presses her hand on the side of Harris. "This."

Harris's eyes widen at the glowing strips. A few ribs shift slightly underneath his skin, the magical bandages stiffening. He checks his side, gently pokes the bruises, and lifts his intrigued gaze at Sotalia. "MAN... THAT is such a fucked up feeling."

Applying a cover pad over the strips, Sotalia laughs. "Gods, I KNOW. I've used these a few times, and I NEVER get used to that."

On the other side of the command center in a cleared out section of floor, Cideeda, Dretphi, and Bach sit on the ground around a downed cyber-commando. The darkening transparent red solution slowly seeps out onto the dirty floor panels from the dividing machete wound. A fading status light pulses on the open chest chamber, sans power core. Bach rests his head back on the wall, blinks blankly, and eases a breath out with a faint whistle. "These are some SERIOUS cyborgs. I'm glad you had that machete. Otherwise... we might still be fighting it."

Dretphi straightens up and draws a small knife from her belt. She presses the blade firmly on the exterior covering of the cyborg and struggles to leave a pressure mark in the synthetic coating. Waving a utility scanner over the corpse, Cideeda growls out her frustration and shakes her head of short multicolored hair, a darker gray bang sliding out of her vision. "Damn this thing! It's like my scanner pulses are going right through. I'm getting more of a signal from the plating in the floor panels."

Bach tilts himself forward and gets his legs underneath him. He rises up unsteadily and reflexively braces himself against the wall. Both Dretphi and Cideeda reach out to catch him. Bach waves his hand appreciatively and chuckles awkwardly. "I'm, uh, good. My leg fell asleep sitting on that floor for too long. I'm recovered enough, in the magic department, at least."

Dretphi stands up fully, walks around the cyborg cautiously, and pats Bach on shoulder. "Thank you for shielding us. Disarming it."

Bach hangs his head and shrugs his shoulders. "Ah, not a problem. But..."

Gritting his teeth, he glances off to the side. "I just get the feeling when we get out of this Sotalia and Aristespha are going to have MORE questions about how I did all that."

He glances down to a familiar, gentle five claw point squeeze around his forearm and soft shoulder nudge in his side. Meeting his gaze, Cideeda flashes a toothy grin, winks her emerald green eye, and lets go of Bach's arm. "Hey, you're getting the results that keep us alive. That's good enough in my book."

She glares down in disgust at the cyborg and shoves it away from her with the heel of her toed boot. "Let's get away from the dead thing. I've studied and gotten all I want from it."

Dretphi and Bach agree and follow Cideeda, leading them towards Aristespha and Sotalia. Bach briefly glances back at the cyborg corpse, winces uncomfortably, and squirms a bit. "Damn... Still feel a bit weird about killing that thing. It was still alive and all..."

Nodding solemnly, Dretphi turns her head down to Bach. "It is never easy when it is something you can sympathize with. It did force a decision upon us all."

She furrows her brow and rocks her head to either shoulder. "It... Us... Do not feel bad for choosing US."

Cideeda aims her head over her shoulder at Bach and Dretphi with a faintly saddened frown. "Honestly, if there's any poor souls trapped in those things, I think we're doing them a huge favor. Give them a chance to move on to something better."

Bach ponders quietly in thought. Silence seconds pass, and he sighs with grim acceptance. "Yeah... Especially those rotting ones. Gods... That HAS to be some kind of hell."

Sebastian rockets through the closed large doors, halts in the middle of the room, and calls out to everyone in the command center. "Everyone! We have a SITUATION... Gather around."

People gather closer and attention shifts towards the middle of the room where Sebastian hovers. The team gets near, and Sebastian glances over the crews. He wrestles an uneasy grimace and sighs ethereally. "I checked most of the way back, until I couldn't go any farther. So..."

He rests his hands upon his sides. "Everywhere we ran into the cyber-zombies, we have cyber-commandos waiting. From what I can gather, they are able to coordinate with each other. After the first few groups shot at me and saw their bolts go right through, the rest stopped trying."

Members of the crew wither, dread looming over them. Dretphi crosses her arms, lowers her helmeted head, and ponders out loud. "Any tactics you witnessed them employ?"

Sebastian nods gravely. "Yeah. Plenty. They changed up hiding spots between when I passed them the first time and on my return. They're in groups of three now. And, it looks like they are concentrating the groups the closer you get to the exit. I think they know we're going to try to get out of here and are looking to contain us."

Straightening her posture, Aristespha rolls her shoulders and breathes deeply with worry in her tone. "Any signs they are going to break into here?"

Shaking his head, Sebastian frowns and motions around the space. "No. They're waiting for us to make a move. I think they know they can wait us out."

Frustration bubbles into Dretphi's voice, and she tightens her gauntlet covered fist. "We were lucky with the two we encountered. It will be a perilous fight to get out. If they can communicate, our cautious tactics will cease to work. They will surround us."

Sotalia rubs her temples, guides back stray dark red locks over her swept back horn, and groans. "There's only so much firepower I've got, but I can throw my heavy hitters. How many are we looking at?"

Darting his translucent blue gaze around awkwardly, Sebastian lowers his head in grim understanding. "Fifteen or so from my count along the path. At least, those are the ones I saw."

Blinking in abject surprise, Sotalia uneasily bites her lower lip and drifts from the gathering with a single word. "Fuck..."

Cideeda paces around near the huddle, her distant stare inwards sorting through a flurry of thoughts. "We need a distraction or something. If only to just to keep them from attacking us, much less running into us..."

She wiggles her fingers on a hand and furrows her light brown brow. "Even just for a few minutes. If we run for it, we should get to the exit easy enough before they form up much of a resistance."

Listening attentively to Cideeda, Dretphi nods in agreement. "Avoid engagement. Move fast. That would be our best option."

Sotalia spins around towards the group holding a hand up in protest and balks. "Gods. We need something MORE than just a distraction. We need something to temporarily take them out! Stun them, or shut them down. I can throw some ball lightning. They didn't seem to like electrical magic that much..."

Wrestling a frown, she grumbles unsatisfied. "But... THAT only can reach within a few meters of a spot."

An idea sparks inside Bach. He narrows his blue eyes and glances around his head, watching pieces fall into place. Tilting his head towards Cideeda, he inquires. "When you scanned the cyborg, the pulses were going through it? Not like refracted around or being absorbed by it?"

Lifting a flap on her vest, Cideeda retrieves the small scanner and presses buttons, bringing up the last reading. "Right through. I got some internal data of the cyborg, but mostly reflections from the micro-mesh reinforced concrete that makes up this base. It's weird they're so electrically permissive."

Stepping next to Cideeda, Aristespha angles the screen of the device towards her searching violet eyes, her very long, pointed ears perking up slightly. "Wait... I read about these once. There were such things as infiltration commandos by a few older nations. Recovered documents mention they have electromagnetic transparency augmentations to avoid being detected by radar systems. They were specifically designed to be used in areas that used robotic soldiers and radar systems for detection."

A sly smile cracks from the corner of Bach's mouth, and he quirks a daring eyebrow. "So, how much would say a powerful EMP would fuck them up?"

Blinking in thought, Cideeda perks her furry ears, straightens her posture, and rests her hands on her hips. "They have some protections, and their augmentations obviously allow signals to go through. But..."

She furrows her brow, glances over to Bach, stroking her chin with intrigued claw tips. "That's for defeating detection equipment. An electromagnetic pulse is orders of magnitude more powerful than even standing directly in front of a microwave transmitter. Only hardened front line battle droids and mechs are capable of weathering blasts like and functioning through it. They do that by routing the energy around them... Not THROUGH them."

She reveals an eager, toothy grin. "So, an EMP might fry these cyber-commandos and definitely should take them down for at least a little while."

Sebastian breaks into a hopeful smile and gazes expectantly at his brother. "Whacha got, bro?"

Bach nods with his thoughts, explaining. "I believe I can construct a magical device that can release a powerful enough EMP. I think the construction of the outpost will keep it in the hallways?"

Meeting Bach's inquiring gaze, Cideeda smiles slyly and perks her eyebrow. "Oh yeah. This place is packed with metal plating and mesh throughout the entirety of the structure. It was meant to keep stuff out..."

She widens a toothy grin and tilts her head. "BUT, it works just as well to keep it in."

Narrowing her steely gray eyes in thought, Dretphi smirks and crosses her armored arms. "That will disrupt their communications. Leave them completely uncoordinated. Any we encounter active would be unable to relay intel. Keep our position obfuscated."

Sotalia furrows her brow and faces Bach, seeking hope. She sighs with reservation heavy in her tone. "I'm certain between you, Aristespha, and me, we can power this up and make it work. But..."

She bites her lower lip and uncomfortably rolls her shoulders. "If we do have to fight, I don't know how much magic we'd have left to defend ourselves."

A cunning spark glints in Bach's blue eyes, and he grins ear to ear. "OH. Don't worry. I got most of the power covered."

He grabs the edges of his duster and fans it open. A dozen salvaged, nearly fully charged power cores rattle metallically against each other in the duster pockets. Bach smiles smugly and chuckles. "Well, technically, they covered it."

Over the minutes, Sebastian, Dretphi, and Cideeda coordinate with the engineers and rally near the exit. Sotalia and Aristespha assist the injured towards the main group and ready them for the exodus. Moving away from a quick chat with Bach, Sebastian surveys the progress and coasts over near the security door. "Okay! I think we're ready here."

He gazes over at Dretphi, pointing. "Dretphi. Shield deployed and machete ready at the front. Bash and slash anything that doesn't have the sense to get out of the way."

Dretphi confirms the order, and Sebastian meets Cideeda’s expectant gaze. "Cideeda. Shoot anything that tries to get up in front of us."

Cideeda flashes a toothy grin and racks a fresh round into the shotgun's chamber, snatching the ejected shell out of the air. Sebastian glances over towards Aristespha with a smile. "Dear. Ward and barrier the crew."

Aristespha rolls her shoulders and nods at the ready. Straightening his posture, Sebastian calls out to the gathered crowd. "Crew members! Line up two wide. Help Mr. Harris, Urdi, and Radnae along."

Glancing over his shoulder, Sebastian spots Bach and Sotalia. "Bach and Sotalia. When whatever blows and the crew clears the doors, I want you two to cover the back and make it absolute hell for anything that tries to follow us."

People form up along the length of the wall near the heavy security door with a cautious distance from the actual entry. Reaching inside an open access panel, Cideeda readies a rigging of wires and components. Stretching her arms out, Dretphi holds her gauntlet forward, a force field forming into a tower shield from a mounted generator. She draws out her large, glimmering machete and inspects it. Aristespha recites incantations, precisely gestures, and fans out a protective warping bubble around the crew members with ample space within. Bach and Sotalia stand facing each other in front of the heavy entry door. Bach holds his hands half a meter apart in the air front of Sotalia. "Okay. To build this thing real quick, I'm going to need you to flow some energy into it to keep the build processes going. That way I can concentrate on charging it up with the power cores. Okay?"

Nodding slowly with vague hints of uncertainty, Sotalia aims her stare at Bach and awaits further instruction. "Okay. Yes. So... What do I need to do, specifically?"

Bach motions his hands up and down, indicating the space between them. "Keep your hands right here. Then, when I say so, just flow energy into it."

Sotalia cautiously reaches her hands out next to Bach's. He rotates his hands around a center pivot until they are at the top and bottom of the space. Taking in a deep breath, his eyes glow brightly, and he releases a calming breath. "Okay. Here we go..."

A surge of magical flow erupts from Bach and jets into the space between his hands. The amorphous energy solidifies into a ball outer structure and mechanical and technological shapes materialize inside. Two discs form, slide on the outside of the ball, and park next to Sotalia's hands. Gawking at the creation, Sotalia's eyes dart around, following the orderly chaos manifesting before her. Bach calls out, his blue eyes flashing brightly. "Now! Flow into it!"

Sotalia shudders her head of dark red shoulder length hair, blinks her back to awareness, and stumbles upon her words. "W-w-wait! What kind of magical energy!?"

Letting go of the top and bottom of the magical creation, Bach searches his duster, patting down a power core. He briefly glances nonchalantly at Sotalia with a spark of confidence. "Well, any really... It'll process it out."

Furrowing her brow, Sotalia twists an uneasy grimace on her light tan face and tilts her head slightly. She shrugs her shoulders and releases a form of prismatic energy down her arms. Startling at the discs locking on to the streams from her hands, she studies the build process happening. Her fingers flex around the flurry of activity between, and she stares into the constructs materializing within. Bach presses a power core into the bottom of the creation. Placing his hand on top, he concentrates with a slow inhale. Sotalia's attention darts between flits of activity throughout the device, shifts in magical flows, and adjustments of the discs near her hands. "What is going on here?"

From the connected power core, a massive surge of energy floods into the center. Bach returns the empty power core into his duster and replaces it with another one. "Honestly... A whole bunch of simple things I've come up with before stitched together."

Blinking her eyes wide, Sotalia focuses a questioning stare upon Bach. Bach lines up the next device, catches Sotalia's attention, and awkwardly smiles. Each power core flushes the center with a new wave of power, and the whole magical orb shines brighter. Fighting off her fascination, Sotalia snaps back to her senses, the discs trembling near her hands. "It's starting to shake a little..."

Stopping short of retrieving the seventh power core, Bach returns his free hand on the bottom of the magical manifestation and narrows his brilliant blue stare. "Okay... THAT is all it's probably going to hold. Uh... Well, safely enough for a bomb, at least. Time to seal her up and prime it."

With a pulse of magic flow, the intertwined constructions within solidify around the radiating blue-white core. The exterior shell darkens to an opaque red. The discs next to Sotalia's hands dissipate into clouds of miasma that sink back into the manifested energy bomb. Cautiously pulling her hands away to the sides, Sotalia stands fascinated at the creation. Bach shifts over to the side and hems for Sotalia's attention. "Hey, you might want to move out of the way. It's going to fly out the door when I trigger it."

Sotalia blinks back to awareness, side steps away, and dons a hasty front of confidence. Bach nods to Cideeda. "Open the door! It's ready to fly."

Taking her hand off the handle of her shotgun, Cideeda presses the button upon the rigged control panel. The large security door opens. Bach taps a spot on the bomb, and the magical entity rockets off through the door, charging down the hallway. Bach rushes into the protection field bubble with everyone else. Cideeda presses another button, and the door quickly seals. She hops into the shielding barrier. Tense moments hang over the gathering in the silent, still seconds. A chorus of alarms sound out from the banks of control center consoles into a chaotic cacophony. The heavy security door vibrates within its reinforced frame. Lights flicker to a very dim glow, old computer displays flash a rainbow of error messages, and the protective bubble crackles with tiny arcs. A low singular tremor pulses through the very structure of the outpost, and showers of ancient debris rain from clouds of dust from the ceiling rafters. Cideeda rushes over and yanks back an emergency release handle inside a maintenance access panel. A loud rush of fluid sounds out from within the doorway frame, and hydraulic override rams swiftly drag open the security door. Sebastian darts open into the hallway, glances down both ways, and yells. "LET'S MOVE IT!"

Sebastian leads well ahead of the column and glides down the hall of flickering lamps and occasional waterfalls of sparks. Dretphi and Cideeda set the pace down the hazy passages of fresh smoldering electrical systems and swiftly gauge the threats from disabled, twitching cyber-commandos. Sweeping over the still and barely shuddering humanoid creatures, both push forth, Dretphi booting cybernetic bodies clear. Aristespha calls out directions and guides flows of energy into the protective bubble over the crew. Holding the rear of the formation, Bach aims his plasma pistol into the chaotic darkness, and Sotalia keeps a hand of sparking magic at the ready. The group weaves through the maze of the ancient facility and swiftly darts through barricaded choke points.

A cyber-commando stumbles around in the middle of the hallway and ambles aimlessly. Fighting through the daze, it gains enough awareness and faces a powerful energy shield bash straight into its muted features. It slams into the concrete wall with a resounding thud. Another recovering cyborg menace spins shakily around to the noise and shudders, a large, glimmering machete slicing into its neck. Falling into a wet slump, another one of its kind sluggishly sits up from the ground. With a bright muzzle flash, a loud report echoes down the corridor. A lead slug bounces off the rising cyber-commando's head, and it flops back down onto the concrete floor. Cideeda cycles another round into her shotgun and calls out. "They're getting back up! These weren't hit as hard as the others!"

Sebastian's ethereal visage rockets around the corner and shouts back down the hallway. "Last three are still groggy, and then it's a straight shot out!"

Dretphi and Cideeda charge through the intersection. A loud crackle of power sounds out, and another body smacks against the metal piped wall. A shotgun blast booms, and heavy metal impacts with a wet crunch. Sebastian remains in the middle of the intersection, and directs the formation down the passage. Pausing a moment, Sotalia unleashes a bolt of lightning behind her and sprints back into pace. Bach lays down a covering volley of plasma bolts from his pistol, suppressing the advance of awakening cyborgs. Setting up for another casting, Sotalia waits for Bach to run past, and an arc of electricity erupts down the hall in a flood of blue-white light and crackling chaos. Sebastian flies next to Sotalia and Bach and motions towards the exit. "Save the firepower and run! We may need it outside!"

Dretphi and Cideeda leap to either side of the facility entrance. The crew flees out in formation with Aristespha commanding from the middle. Cheers fill the air from the crowd of the other Next Adventurers of Nexus support staff. Samantha and Gerald run out to the rescued crew and immediately lead them away to the safety perimeter. Deedri eagerly rushes over and assists with the injured, Aristespha narrowing her glare behind a professional exterior. Modoran nods respectfully to the team with honest applause. Chad, Tassilda, and Trakenthin stare at the events unfolding, hints of relief watching the crew reunite tempering surges of ire. Bach and Sotalia halt and pivot around after clearing the entry. Panting heavily, Bach squints down the corridor beyond the main doorway. "What the-"

Standing straight in fright, he waves his arms towards the bunker entry. "OH SHIT! I don't think they're stopping. They might actually come out here!"

Peeking around from the side, Cideeda narrows her emerald green eyes towards the sleek wandering figures in the dark, hazy chaos. "Fuck! There's probably no central control to keep them from wandering off now!

Sotalia squints down the corridor into the distance, and her eyes widen in horror, spotting the unsettling humanoid outlines in contrast to the flickering backlight. "Are they all coming back online?! That's more than what we shot!"

Dretphi flips up her visor, draws in a deep breath, and bellows out to the crowds. "MOVE BACK! THEY ARE COMING TO THE ENTRY! GET BACK NOW!"

Sebastian zips out of the entry, pivots around, and watches the masses of movement swell out from the dark depths of the ancient ruins. "Gods damn it. I guess they engineered them to handle an EMP. Oh fucking hell, they're all coming towards the exit. We're going to need to set up a choke point here and try to keep them contained."

Aristespha slides to a stop behind everyone. "Bach! Do you have another one of those barriers left in you? Even if we call the guild and military, it will take them at least half an hour to get out here. Anything to slow them down now."

Panic rushes up through Bach's rigid form with nervous trembling and shuddering breaths. He searches the area frantically and wrestles down the flits of fright. "Uh- I- Uh- Maybe! But, one or two won't get through, but this many?! I need a power source to recharge the-"

His eyes snaps to a large trailer power cell with runs of cables to Next Adventurers of Nexus equipment in the vicinity. Pointing at the device, Bach commands determined. "THAT. HERE. NOW!"

Dretphi and Cideeda bolt to the power cell. Dretphi unlocks the wheel brakes and kicks clear the restrains. Cideeda rips out plugs and disconnects cables in bulk, freeing it from the web of connections. Two Next Adventurers of Nexus engineers rush on over, demanding they halt. Dretphi rises up from pulling a lock release to her full towering height and glares down dark, cold through the tech. The other engineer stands in front of the trailer's path and defiantly waves his arms. Near the entrance, Aristespha gestures out an incantation and throws both hands forward. A massive wave of force funnels down the corridor, and launches cyborgs back into the commando pile up. Sotalia flings out shock wave bolts, and each erupting impact knocks a cyborg tumbling behind the amassing horde. Gawking up in terror at the stern, stoic stare from the armored grath, one engineer slowly backs away. Dretphi lifts the tongue of the trailer and summons the sheer brute strength to hoist it up and mobile. Ripping out the last few cables, Cideeda rushes the remaining defiant engineer. The tech abruptly halts his protests, snaps his terror down at Cideeda's sharp claws threateningly close in sensitive regions, and follows her guidance out of the way. Cideeda feverishly clears the rest of way in front of Dretphi. Reaching his hand out, Bach's eyes glow, and energy flows into a hexagonal grid in front of him. The magical matrix grows onto the heavy archway and roots itself to the concrete around. The seal strengthens, and Sotalia and Aristespha stand back, keeping spells at the ready. Dretphi heaves the power cell trailer into position behind Bach. "It is here!"

Panting with sweat on his brow, Bach draws his hand away from the framework of hexes, a woven cord of magical threads forming from his palm. Quickly pivoting around, he swiftly studies the power cell, blinking out of mental haze. He flips open an access panel covered in warnings and glances at the cord in hand and the high voltage electrical insides of the power cell. Rounds impact the partial field behind him, each hit sending ripples through the unstable matrix. Bach grits his teeth uncertainly, wincing, and jams magical cable inside. Another volley of energy projectiles slam into the golden barrier, and the sectioned framework rattles against the entryway. A rush of flow jets down around Bach's arm and floods the insides of the power cell. The cord flashes to a bright prismatic glow, surging down the length to the golden field. A pair of sleek cyber-commandos bull rush the barrier and slam into it. The energy framework sinks into the archway, repelling the charge, and fills in quickly, growing denser by the second. A thick golden barrier fully materializes and anchors securely into the structure of the outpost. Plasma bolts barrages from inside pelt the magical seal, and the field holds with no signs of damage. Bach gasps with relief and quickly backs away from the entryway. "It should be good! I guess..."

He stumbles a little, catches himself, and pants out, fluttering his dimming blue eyes. "I hope?"

Minutes of constant assaults from cyber-commando wane. The combatants attempt a few tactical charges. The cyborgs fall back, and only a few rotting bionic husks idly press against the entryway seal. The Next Adventurers of Nexus crews and adventures collect themselves. Aristespha, Bach, Cideeda, Dretphi, and Sotalia retreat to the humvee, and Sebastian dissipates back into the sword at Aristespha's side. With the team resting, Aristespha hangs up on her aetherphone call and walks back over to the humvee. "Well, the GAA military should be here soon enough to lock down the area. The local guild office was happy for the containment and information. So, we might get a nice bonus."

Grumbling in the front seat, Sotalia sips from a bottle of water. "Gods... Still can't believe we had to help them out."

Sebastian's voice resonates from the sword at Aristespha's side. "To be fair... That was a fucked up situation for anyone.

Rolling her eyes, Sotalia scratches the dark gray patches under her pointed ears and sighs. "Yeah... I guess, to be fair..."

Cideeda finishes chewing a large piece of jerky and laughs, tapping on Sotalia's shoulder. "Did you see the look on their faces when we got the crew out? I hope THAT gets put on air!"

Dretphi groans, laying on the far back seat, throws her head back into her pillows, and sinks into the cushion. "I worry what will be on the show."

Bach yawns and stretches his neck. Pausing a moment, he chuckles to himself and shakes his head. "You know... I don't think they'll have much material to work with."

Blinking her eyes, Cideeda's furry ears perk with her thoughts, and she widens a toothy grin. "That's right... Oh, they'll be lucky to get anything of use from today."

Aristespha puzzles at Bach and Cideeda, and steps closer, lowering her voice with a wry smile. "Why do you two say that?"

Bach motions towards the power cell near the magical barrier. "I think that's the only one of those they brought, and they have a lot of power hungry equipment."

An evil smile settles upon Cideeda's light brown face, and she wiggles comfortably into the driver's seat. "Also, I know the EMP didn't help."

---

The dim glow of aged stained overhead lighting blends with the gentle illumination of scattered magical orbs down a long corridor. Stepping over the disarray of dust-covered toppled documents, a tall, thin main balances himself back upon the smooth concrete bunker floor, his dark gray, black trimmed cloak waving with the air current. His gray eyes peer through a wooden mask and down the long hallway towards an open set of sliding doors into the large room beyond. Slowly plodding along, he sorts out a collection of stained and decaying paperwork within his hand and mumbles to himself. He squints at the dense text upon the pages and holds the stack further from his gaze. With an annoyed sigh slipping out, his eyes illuminate faintly, and he refocuses his stare, drawing the dusty documents comfortably closer. He walks through the doorway into a huge space filled with lines of older computing equipment. Upon the rows of consoles on either side of a middle aisle, images and text mix and flick on freshly wiped screens, similar patterns traveling between displays. The man lifts his gaze ahead and watches huge flat monitors upon the front wall occasionally scrolling with new lines of text or a new variation of a prior image. His contemplative hum barely rises above the omnipresent sound of idle computation lingering in the space.

His eyes flick over to a specific computer station nearest the large monitors, and his masked face turns with new focus. The man walks up to the console and inspects a nearby, newer laptop. The small display shows the rolling statuses of different progress bars upon a bed of text scrolling in terminal windows. The streams surge briefly. A new window opens and reveals a new message to the foreground, prior progress bars disappearing.

"Operating system determined. Device emulation started. Attempting exploit and payload combinations...

Nodding, the masked man checks on a cable link between the underside of console station and the side of laptop. He stands up straight, stretching his lower back, and hisses in a long breath. With an tired exhale, he rests the packet of sorted documents from his hand upon the desktop near the computing equipment and turns towards the exit. He casually walks down the long corridor, traces of evening starlight mixing with a faint orange hint. Stepping out into the edge of the courtyard of the abandoned facility, he gazes up at the sky of stars above and the quiet forests at the edges of the horizon, surrounding the clearing of ancient structures. The masked man walks over towards an old steel drum, a low fire flicking within the container, and holds his leather gloved hands to the waves of heat fighting against the breeze. Searching around the vicinity, he kneels down and turns on a small radio upon an opened up hiking pack. He taps a button on the device and stands back up, warming himself near the steel drum fire.

"... Again, it's been over a month since this Dark Lord Noxian and supposed Chosen One Sebastian Warwick had their confrontation in Anta. And... There's been nothing SINCE. No official word. Not even an unofficial word so far. I tell you folks, I don't get it. It's obvious to me that the GAA doesn't really have a clue what to say. I mean... Hero defeated. Big bad guy got away. Of course, they aren't saying anything. But, really... Is it so hard to find this Dark Lord? I mean, COME ON. He TOTALLY dresses the part. It's like the most stereotypical Big Bad Evil Guy attire you can think of! Dark cloak and hood, even a mask to hide his face? If you want MY opinion, somebody read way too many historical fantasy books based on the First and Second periods for inspiration. This guy should be THE EASIEST person to spot in a crowd much less out in the open."

Blinking his gray eyes, the masked and cloaked man halts rubbing his hands near the warmth of the fire and slowly angles his head towards the radio. He tilts his head to the side and darts his eyes around at the thoughts in his mind. Seconds of contemplation pass, and the he releases a long sigh, hints of embarrassment slipping out. Rolling his eyes at himself, the man bows over slightly and pulls the dark gray, black trimmed cloak off. The last bit of fabric slides off of his head and reveals a his longer wispy, white hair. Hoisting up the cloak up, the older man examines it closely, huffs, and shakes his head. He carefully feeds the cloth cloak into the steel drum fire. The flames spread up the garment, overtaking it completely in a surge, and the masked man releases the last intact section of fabric into the blaze. With the fire growing higher and brighter, he adjusts his long sleeve shirt and pats away stray embers off his pullover jacket and worn cotton dress pants. A glowing speck drifts close to the blue scarf around his neck, and he reflexively, defensively swats it away, a faint white glow sparking from the eyes behind the mask. He steps away from the surge of flame from the barrel and shields the blue scarf, shoulders tensing.

The fire wanes over the minute, and the masked man relaxes. Feeling the mask upon his face, he slides off the back strap holding it to his face. His tan face gazes upon the intricately sculpted wood. Wincing into a frown, he draws in a somber breath and holds the mask closer to the flames just rising over the top lip of the drum. The fire reaches for the fuel. The man halts, tightens his grip, and yanks the mask away. A surge of hesitation stiffens his body, and the verge of regret guides his steps away from the steel drum. Shaking his head, the finds a spot near the large hiking pack, sits down, and leans against the concrete wall of the large bunker building. He feels the contours of wooden mask and frowns, a glint of a tear forming at the corner of his eye. With a swift sniff, he blots the trace of sadness with a tail of the blue scarf and holds the craft woven fabric upon his face. Seconds pass of quiet contemplation. The older man glances over at the pack nearby and carefully places the wooden mask within the protective confines of the container. He glances around at the distant perimeter of the clearing and the dark interiors of the forests beyond, grits his teeth against the twinge of paranoia, and wraps the blue scarf into mask over the lower half of his face. A long sigh eases out, and he relaxes the stress in his upper body, allowing his head to rest against the concrete wall again. The radio blares out a loud advertisement, and the scarfed man turns the device off. Staring off into the stars above, he slows his breaths and wrestles a frown into a slight smile underneath the blue scarf.